Friday 7:30 p.m. - A trio of drivers all looking to keep up the momentum heading toward their upcoming appearances at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas all tasted victory in Tucson on Friday night with Damon Bradshaw leading the way with a pair of wins in Monster Energy, taking the racing and donut wins while rookie J. P. Ruggiero in El Diablo won the wheelie contest and Charlie Pauken drove Grave Digger to the freestyle triumph. All three Tucson Friday winners will be a part of the sport’s biggest weekend in just two weeks, Bradshaw and Pauken ready to battle at Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam World Finals XIV presented by NGK Spark Plugs and Ruggiero in the field for the Young Guns Shootout on Double Down Friday in Vegas.

With the crowd roaring all night El Diablo provided the early thrills and grabbed the first trophy when J. P. stood the Monster Jam truck named by fans during Hispanic Heritage Month straight up and landed it on the tailgate, ripping that piece off but earning the night’s opening victory.

Onto racing where El Diablo would suffer even more extensive damage, in a semifinal round race against Rod Wood and McGruff Ruggiero’s truck flipped over following the second jump landing hard on the concrete floor during the Thunder Nationals event and El Diablo’s night came to a premature end. Bradshaw, who has topped the stat sheet in 2013 racing on the big stadium courses proved Monster Energy is fast on the smaller non-dirt circuits as well, marching through the bracket to take the event win by defeating McGruff in the UTI Championship round.

Bradshaw backed up that win by taking his second plaque of the night in the next competition, winning the donut contest to set-up the Advance Auto Parts Service is our Best Part Freestyle Competition, and Monster Energy had the lead looking for a third win on the night but Pauken would not be denied, turning in a ragged edge Grave Digger performance that featured the biggest air of the night among a series of scintillating moves that brought the crowd to their feet and the final win of the night to Team Grave Digger

Saturday 2:00 p.m.Continuing to build momentum in Tucson toward their upcoming appearance at Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam World Finals XIV presented by NGK Spark Plugs March 22 and 23 in Las Vegas Damon Bradshaw in Monster Energy and Charlie Pauken in Grave Digger each grabbed a pair of victories in front of an excited crowd at Tucson’s Convention Center Saturday afternoon.

Pauken’s wins proved to be bookends on the Saturday matinee competition, Grave Digger opening the action with the packed house cheering their support in the wheelie competition and Digger claimed that triumph, edging 2013 Young Guns Shootout invitee J. P. Ruggiero and El Diablo by 2 points in the scoring of the judges.

The racing competition was next on the docket and Bradshaw followed up his success in racing on the non-dirt Chicago style oval from Friday by again marching undefeated through the bracket. For the second straight time in the Arizona city local favorite Rod Wood and McGruff provided the opposition to Monster Energy in the UTI Championship Round. In the finale Bradshaw added to his impressive 2013 Monster Jam win totals, Monster Energy defeating McGruff to take the racing trophy.

Monster Energy then wowed the crowd with a series of high speed cyclones to win the donut competition.

In the Advance Auto Parts Service is our Best Part Freestyle competition Bradshaw nailed a high energy, big move performance to take the lead in hopes of a “Tucson Triple” of wins but Grave Digger was able to stem the Monster Energy tide. Pauken again had the lively crowd cheering wildly with a non-stop barrage of thrilling moments and Grave Digger claimed a second straight Tucson freestyle victory.

Saturday 7:30 p.m. – Saturday night at the Tucson Convention Center was buzzing with excitement as six of the world’s best Monster Jam trucks were set to amaze the electric crowd. The Monster Jams fans were treated to the continuing rivalry between Damon Bradshaw in Monster Energy and Charlie Pauken in Grave Digger. These two drivers battled it out all night long and these drivers each took home two championship titles.

We started the competitions off with Charlie Pauken and Grave Digger taking the Wheelie Championship by edging out Tucson’s own, Rod Wood in McGruff with a score of 25. Charlie Pauken won another wheelie title with not just a standard wheelie, but he had the presence of mind to continue in to a slap wheelie in the tight confines of the Tucson Convention Center.

After wheelies it was onto to Monster Jam racing. Each of the six drivers had a blind draw before the event to determine where they would go into the bracket. Grave Digger edged out Monster Energy in the first round to move on to the semifinals. The next pair of trucks was McGruff taking out Team Hot Wheels Firestorm. To finish out the first round of racing it was the Hispanic Heritage Month truck of JP Ruggiero and El Diablo winning over Mark Schroeder and Devastator. In our first semifinal Monster Energy was the Fast Loser to compete against Grave Digger. In a nail biter of a finish it was Damon Bradshaw advancing to the UTI Championship race. In the second semifinal it was El Diablo taking down the hometown truck of McGruff. The crowd was on their feet and screaming at the top of their lungs for the UTI Championship race of El Diablo and Monster Energy. In the end it was Damon Bradshaw in Monster Energy taking home his second title of the night.

Next up was the Monster Jam Donut Contest. Damon Bradshaw and his Monster Energy truck had already tallied the UTI Championship just before so he was fired up to try and make it two titles in a row. Monster Energy displayed one of the best donut runs of the weekend by getting into a wild Cyclone to win the donut competition by four points over Team Hot Wheels Firestorm.

The Advance Auto Parts Service is Our Best Part Freestyle was last but not least and it didn’t disappoint. All of the freestyle runs tonight were on par as each driver tallied scores of twenty and up to keep it a battle. Earlier in the night Charlie Pauken and Grave Digger were having some transmission issues, so he and his crew were put on the sixty second clock. The Grave Digger crew and the UTI technicians worked like crazy to help Grave Digger make it back out for his amazing freestyle run. His run was full of donuts, slap wheelies and even some reverse jumps over the crushed cars! His incredible run helped him edge out Monster Energy by one point for a 28 and the Service is Our Best Part Freestyle Championship! Charlie Pauken came out of Grave Digger to entertain the crowd with his signature “Chuckie Dance.”

Sunday, 2:00 p.m. – The Sunday afternoon show in Tucson was the last show of the weekend and the six Monster Jam Trucks competing didn’t disappoint. The great fans at the Tucson Convention Center had been treated to four World Finals Monster Jam drivers all weekend and they were ready to tear it down for this show.

The afternoon festivities begun with the Monster Jam Wheelie Contest. The hometown favorite of McGruff had the crowd on his side as Rod Wood started it off with a score of 24. This was not enough to stop the dominance of the long time Monster Jam driver and World Finals competitor, Charlie Pauken and Grave Digger. Grave Digger topped McGruff with a score of 28 to take home another championship plaque.

Next up was the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam racing competition. If this weekend in Tucson had anything to prove, it was that Damon Bradshaw and his Monster Energy truck were here, focused and ready to move on to the World Finals presented by NGK Spark Plugs in Las Vegas, Nevada March 22 & 23, 2013. Damon took that focus into the first round against another great competitor in Charlie Pauken and Grave Digger. Monster Energy would advance to the Semifinals. In the next first round racing matchup we had two of Arizona’s own facing off to advance to the Semifinals. It was Rod Wood and McGruff taking on current Monster Jam Speed analyst Mark Schroeder and Devastator. McGruff would advance to his third racing Semifinal. In our last first round matchup it was JP Ruggiero and El Diablo advancing over the always competitive Scott Buetow and Team Hot Wheels Firestorm. Luckily Team Hot Wheels was the Fast Loser, so he would advance to the Semifinals. In the first semifinal it was Monster Energy making his fourth UTI Championship race as he edged out Team Hot Wheels Firestorm. The local favorite of McGruff would make his third out of four championship rounds in Tucson with a victory over El Diablo. In the UTI Championship Race the Crime Dog of McGruff gave it his all, but he could not stop the Tucson winning streak of Damon Bradshaw and Monster Energy. This was Monster Energy’s fourth Tucson racing championship.

After a close racing competition the crowd was still amped up for the Monster Jam Donut Competition. Three of our six drivers were all within one point of each other, but only one could be the champion. McGruff spun to a 23, Monster Energy a 24, but Charlie Pauken took the steering wheel off and completed some of the most stylish donuts we had seen this afternoon to take home the crown with a score of 25.

The drivers had been telling the great crowd at the Tucson Convention Center all afternoon that they were going to leave it all on the floor when it came to their Monster Jam Freestyle runs for the last show this weekend. When you get this many World Finals drivers all in one arena, they always want to give the best show possible. We saw some sky wheelies, big airs, and even a reverse jump over crushed cars. Hot Wheels Firestorm and Grave Digger were once again within two points of your Advance Auto Parts Service is Our Best Part Freestyle champion in Monster Energy.